Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Upgrade from 2.7.2 to 2.8.0 Failed and now /boot/efi/ empty

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    28 Posts 4 Posters 278 Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      What actually failed during the upgrade here? Do you have the failure output?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Try: df -hi /boot/efi

        You have a 200MB EFI partition but the filesystem on it may still be much smaller. That is what jimp's fix works past.

        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 The upgrade failed with the following error: 'failed insufficient space remaining for /boot/loader.efi', which is exactly why I was looking at jimp's fix. Only problem was, the install did a umount on /boot/efi just before I got that error. When it did that, it did not revert the umount so I have been trying to figure out exactly where mine should be mounted. Most posts refer to /boot/efi being mounted to /dev/msdosfs/EFISYS, which I don't have. Based on everything I have found, it looks like it should be mounted to /dev/ada0p1. Unfortunately when I do that I also notice that BOOTx64.efi is missing from that directory. I did find where I can replace that file with loader.efi and rename it.

          Before I proceed, I just want to make sure I have mounted the correct location to /boot/efi. When this problem first happened, I did run the df -hi /boot/efi and got the following reults:

          Filesystem                                         Size    Used   Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
          /dev/gptid/ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c    222G     18G    186G     9%     69k   30M    0%   /
          

          I have since temporarily performed a mount_msdosfs /dev/ada0p1 /boot/efi and when I run the same command I get

          Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
          /dev/ada0p1    766K    1.5K    765K     0%       2   510    0%   /boot/efi
          

          Which according to information I have been able to find online in other forum posts would be correct for some installation, even potentially mine.

          P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • P
            Patch @Sinfonia97
            last edited by

            My understanding is early pfsense installs created a smaller efi partition than is required for current versions of pfsense.

            @Sinfonia97 You may be able to patch your system to fix that but after which you are still going to have an edge case system.
            What else broke during the many updates and repair attempts?

            A clean install offers a more reliable solution.

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Ah that's the issue. The partition is 200MB but the filesystem is only 766K! So that is the problem that jimps instructions should address. You should be able to copy out the EFI data, expand the filesystem to fill the partion then copy the it back.

              S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • S
                Sinfonia97 @Patch
                last edited by

                @Patch I only attempted the upgrade once so nothing else broke. It was just the issue that jimp provided the fix for. Unfortunately his instructions were using /dev/msdosfs/EFISYS which my system does not have.

                I probably should have mentioned early on I am running bare metal on an old watchguard M500 with an upgraded CPU that was required for the future releases of PFSense.

                Here are my CPU stats in case anyone was wondering:

                CPU Type	Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4130 CPU @ 3.40GHz
                                4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
                                AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (inactive)
                                QAT Crypto: No
                
                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 That is exactly what I've been trying to do is the jimp fix. Unfortunately I am needing help that hopefully will confirm what I think is the directory that /boot/efi should be mounted to. Once I figure that out, I should be able to finish with jimp's instructions and correct the size problem and upgrade to 2.8.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    It looks to be mounted correctly since you have the EFI dircetory structure there. As long as you also have the actual efi file(s) there:

                    [25.07-RC][admin@6100.stevew.lan]/root: du -ha /boot/efi
                    656K	/boot/efi/efi/freebsd/loader.efi
                    656K	/boot/efi/efi/freebsd/loader-old.efi
                    1.3M	/boot/efi/efi/freebsd
                    656K	/boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
                    656K	/boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64-old.efi
                    1.3M	/boot/efi/efi/boot
                    2.6M	/boot/efi/efi
                    2.6M	/boot/efi
                    
                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 When I run that command I currently get the following:

                      512B	/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/STARTUP.NSH
                      1.0K	/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
                      1.5K	/boot/efi/EFI
                      1.5K	/boot/efi
                      

                      When I look at the STARTUP.NSH file it references BOOTx64.efi. In my research for this issue I found that I should be able to replace the missing BOOTx64.efi file with a copied and renamed loader.efi from the /boot directory. Unfortunately I have not been able to verify that is true. It appears that typically PFSense uses the loader.efi, but my STARTUP.NSH file references BOOTx64.efi.

                      So this is where I am at currently. Need to verify if I can use a copy of loader.efi to replace my BOOTx64.efi. Also just need to make sure based on the information I have provided that /boot/efi is mounted to the correct directory. In my case I believe it should be /dev/adaop1. Only other location I would consider mounting it to would be /dev/msdosfs/EFI as that is close to what @jimp posted in his fix for the space issue.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Hmm, without an efi binary there at all it will fail to boot. So don't reboot without copying back something!

                        I would say those files are indeed identical:

                        [25.07-RC][admin@6100.stevew.lan]/root: md5sum /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi 
                        aa4529badf1fe88a5ca8941c04f144cb  /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
                        [25.07-RC][admin@6100.stevew.lan]/root: md5sum /boot/efi/efi/freebsd/loader.efi
                        aa4529badf1fe88a5ca8941c04f144cb  /boot/efi/efi/freebsd/loader.efi
                        [25.07-RC][admin@6100.stevew.lan]/root: md5sum /boot/loader.efi
                        aa4529badf1fe88a5ca8941c04f144cb  /boot/loader.efi
                        

                        So you should be able to copy that across

                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 Thank you, that's great to know. That takes care of one part. Now if I can verify that /dev/ada0p1 is the correct location to mount /boot/efi I will be able to finish following @jimp process.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            The output of gpart list should confirm that. There will only be one EFI partition.

                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S
                              Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 Thanks again. I ran gpart list before and this is the output I received and why I figured /dev/ada01p was the correct location to mount /boot/efi. Let me know if you see the same thing:

                              Geom name: ada0
                              modified: false
                              state: OK
                              fwheads: 16
                              fwsectors: 63
                              last: 488397127
                              first: 40
                              entries: 128
                              scheme: GPT
                              Providers:
                              1. Name: ada0p1
                                 Mediasize: 209715200 (200M)
                                 Sectorsize: 512
                                 Stripesize: 0
                                 Stripeoffset: 20480
                                 Mode: r1w1e2
                                 efimedia: HD(1,GPT,ac1172b7-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c,0x28,0x64000)
                                 rawuuid: ac1172b7-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                 rawtype: c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
                                 label: (null)
                                 length: 209715200
                                 offset: 20480
                                 type: efi
                                 index: 1
                                 end: 409639
                                 start: 40
                              2. Name: ada0p2
                                 Mediasize: 245677162496 (229G)
                                 Sectorsize: 512
                                 Stripesize: 0
                                 Stripeoffset: 209735680
                                 Mode: r1w1e2
                                 efimedia: HD(2,GPT,ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c,0x64028,0x1c99c000)
                                 rawuuid: ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                 rawtype: 516e7cb6-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b
                                 label: (null)
                                 length: 245677162496
                                 offset: 209735680
                                 type: freebsd-ufs
                                 index: 2
                                 end: 480247847
                                 start: 409640
                              3. Name: ada0p3
                                 Mediasize: 4172430848 (3.9G)
                                 Sectorsize: 512
                                 Stripesize: 0
                                 Stripeoffset: 245886898176
                                 Mode: r1w1e1
                                 efimedia: HD(3,GPT,ac128803-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c,0x1ca00028,0x7c591f)
                                 rawuuid: ac128803-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                 rawtype: 516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b
                                 label: (null)
                                 length: 4172430848
                                 offset: 245886898176
                                 type: freebsd-swap
                                 index: 3
                                 end: 488397126
                                 start: 480247848
                              Consumers:
                              1. Name: ada0
                                 Mediasize: 250059350016 (233G)
                                 Sectorsize: 512
                                 Mode: r3w3e8
                              

                              This was also before I did a temp mount of /boot/efi to /dev/ada0p1.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                Yup looks good.

                                Of course I'd still have a backup of the config etc! 😉

                                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • S
                                  Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
                                  last edited by

                                  @stephenw10 Perfect, thank you again. I already created a backup before the botched upgrade, so I should be good there. May take another one just in case.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • S
                                    Sinfonia97
                                    last edited by

                                    Wanted to provide an update on where I am at the moment. After finishing the steps from jimp I am now back to where I should have been before attempting the upgrade.

                                    Output from df -hi /boot/efi

                                    Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
                                    /dev/ada0p1    197M    646K    196M     0%       0     0     -   /boot/efi
                                    

                                    Output from du -ha /boot/efi

                                    512B	/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/STARTUP.NSH
                                    644K	/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.efi
                                    645K	/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
                                    645K	/boot/efi/EFI
                                    646K	/boot/efi
                                    

                                    Output from geom -t

                                    Geom                                                 Class      Provider
                                    ada0                                                 DISK       ada0
                                      ada0                                               DEV
                                      ada0                                               PART       ada0p1
                                        ada0p1                                           DEV
                                        msdosfs.ada0p1                                   VFS
                                      ada0                                               PART       ada0p2
                                        ada0p2                                           DEV
                                        ada0p2                                           LABEL      gptid/ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                          gptid/ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c     DEV
                                          ffs.gptid/ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c VFS
                                      ada0                                               PART       ada0p3
                                        ada0p3                                           DEV
                                        ada0p3                                           LABEL      gptid/ac128803-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                          gptid/ac128803-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c     DEV
                                          swap                                           SWAP
                                    

                                    Output from gpart list

                                    Geom name: ada0
                                    modified: false
                                    state: OK
                                    fwheads: 16
                                    fwsectors: 63
                                    last: 488397127
                                    first: 40
                                    entries: 128
                                    scheme: GPT
                                    Providers:
                                    1. Name: ada0p1
                                       Mediasize: 209715200 (200M)
                                       Sectorsize: 512
                                       Stripesize: 0
                                       Stripeoffset: 20480
                                       Mode: r1w1e1
                                       efimedia: HD(1,GPT,ac1172b7-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c,0x28,0x64000)
                                       rawuuid: ac1172b7-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                       rawtype: c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
                                       label: (null)
                                       length: 209715200
                                       offset: 20480
                                       type: efi
                                       index: 1
                                       end: 409639
                                       start: 40
                                    2. Name: ada0p2
                                       Mediasize: 245677162496 (229G)
                                       Sectorsize: 512
                                       Stripesize: 0
                                       Stripeoffset: 209735680
                                       Mode: r1w1e2
                                       efimedia: HD(2,GPT,ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c,0x64028,0x1c99c000)
                                       rawuuid: ac11fbb1-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                       rawtype: 516e7cb6-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b
                                       label: (null)
                                       length: 245677162496
                                       offset: 209735680
                                       type: freebsd-ufs
                                       index: 2
                                       end: 480247847
                                       start: 409640
                                    3. Name: ada0p3
                                       Mediasize: 4172430848 (3.9G)
                                       Sectorsize: 512
                                       Stripesize: 0
                                       Stripeoffset: 245886898176
                                       Mode: r1w1e1
                                       efimedia: HD(3,GPT,ac128803-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c,0x1ca00028,0x7c591f)
                                       rawuuid: ac128803-5651-11e8-b5a2-00907fd0950c
                                       rawtype: 516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b
                                       label: (null)
                                       length: 4172430848
                                       offset: 245886898176
                                       type: freebsd-swap
                                       index: 3
                                       end: 488397126
                                       start: 480247848
                                    Consumers:
                                    1. Name: ada0
                                       Mediasize: 250059350016 (233G)
                                       Sectorsize: 512
                                       Mode: r3w3e7
                                    

                                    I know the last 2 shouldn't have changed, which they didn't. Just wanted to put them in here to document the changes.

                                    Now I just need some time to try the upgrade again, and in case everything goes completely south I have time to rebuild.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      Cool. Does it reboot successfully from there?

                                      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • S
                                        Sinfonia97 @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10 Unfortunately I am going to have to wait till I can bring down the network to test. If I take it down now and it doesn't come back up I will be having some hell to pay from the family...lol. 😃

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • First post
                                          Last post
                                        Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.